Strings Attached
by Cherie-24-Addict
Summary: She loves him, and thanks to one mini-celebration involving her birthday, copious amounts of drinking, and facing her fears, maybe she won't have to let him go.  Rated T for moderate sexual references.  Part 1 of 15, the Quinceaneara series.


_A/N: This is Part 1 of 15 in my Quinceneara Package for iWait4theRain, since she's not having a party. I love you to death, girlie!_

_I may make a pregnancy fic as a sequel. Let me know if you would be interested in this._

_Okay, onto the McAbby!_

**Strings Attached**

_There's a drumming noise inside my head_

_It throws me to the ground_

_I swear that you should hear it_

_It makes such an almighty sound_

_Louder than sirens, louder than bells_

_Sweeter than heaven and hotter than hell._

_-Florence + the Machine, "Drumming Song"_

Abigail Sciuto groaned as a particularly nasty ray of light hit her eye at precisely the correct angle for making her wake up in the morning with absolutely no reason. She blinked in annoyance and turned away from said light…and into two very strong and smooth arms. Her head was burrowed into the chest of the man in her bed.

It was now that she noticed the milky-white skin of her body wasn't clothed. She was completely naked, her black hair undone and around her shoulders. Her bed felt warm and comfortable, almost as if this was a situation that she'd been in before.

For a second, she was very, very confused. Who the hell was in her bed? She wasn't dating anyone. What the hell was going on? How smashed had she gotten last night, that she couldn't remember bringing a guy back to her apartment?

Then she noticed the birthmark on his collar bone, and things started to click into place.

_The Night Before_

_Abby lay back against his chest as __**The Princess Bride**__ played on the screen. Outside of the obviously amazing horror genre, this was her absolute favorite movie, ever since she'd first watched it at the age of eleven. It was romantic, it was sarcastic, it was witty, it was sweet, and it had a happy ending – her companion would agree, this was an amazing movie, and it happened to be much like her._

_Well, except for the fact that her life had no ending…yet. Because that would just suck if it did._

_She turned up towards him, and there was a softness about his eyes that she hadn't seen in a long, long time. And before, it had been just a mild occurrence – a protective look here, a gentle yet mind-numbing hug there. Now, though, a fire was burning in his eyes. It wasn't the grief-filled anger channeled into Gibbs' boat-building. It wasn't Tony's twinkling lust, or Ziva's stoic sense of duty. It wasn't Ducky's all-knowing wisdom, and not the intrigue and strength that Jenny – "Mommy" – had brought to the team._

_No, it was all McGee. It had always been Tim, as far as she was concerned. It was his trust, his admiration, his respect, his protectiveness, their relationship of being best friends…and his love for her. Though they had watched this movie what felt like hundreds of times, something had changed in the air that night._

_Maybe it was the tough case that day, perhaps it was aided by the copious amounts of wine the two had been drinking in honor of her 35__th__ birthday, and it could certainly have been just the natural course of events. Whatever it was, Abby turned her head and captured McGee's lips with her own. At first his eyes widened ("What the hell is going on?", he must have been thinking), but he almost immediately returned her kiss with just as much passion and pure affectation. They began to explore each other's mouths, beginning to remember all they had learned in their first relationship. Out of breath, they pulled away, resting against each other's foreheads._

_Abby was probably a sight – lips parted and swollen, eyes darkened by lust and love, panting like a dog – but at this point, she didn't give a damn. She loved Tim, and she had always loved him. She didn't know what had broken in her, but she needed her Tech Geek, and she needed him __**now.**_

_"I missed you, Tim," she said as a combination of shyness, nostalgia, and attraction made her voice crack. As he kissed her once again, he smiled against her lips, and Abby knew she hadn't been wrong about her Timmy._

Suddenly she felt Tim begin to shift, and as he began to squint in the morning light, Abby dropped a kiss onto his eyelid.

"Hey," she whispered.

Eyes fully open now, he kissed her again, pulling her against his thin torso. "How do you feel?"

"I'm trying to look for a really good description, but I think I'm just going to have to settle for…that was completely and totally mind-blowing, McGee!" She laughed a little. "Wonderful, Tim. I meant what I said last night."

He froze momentarily. "About?"

"I missed you, Tim. So, so much." She sighed. "I love being your best friend, but I love being in love with you more."

He caught the declaration and took it as it was, knowing that for now, that would be about as articulate as she could be on the subject. "I love you too, Abs," he whispered huskily into her ear.

She snuggled deeper against him and placed her head on the perfect crook between his neck and his shoulder. Abby knew that eventually there would need to be talking, there would need to be figuring out how on earth to move forward with their relationship. And she would take everything gladly, every string that came attached to him, and to her, and to them. But for now, all she needed was to be in McGee's arms. Since she had that, the rest of the world started to fade away, and all that existed was the here and now: at this moment, the perfect place to be.


End file.
